The Institute for Retired Legionnaires
We all know why a man would join the French Foreign Legion---to escape some kind of unpleasantness. A love gone bad. A gambling debt. A blood feud. Somewhere, in some Albanian village, a woman's enraged uncle proposes to put a shiv between his shoulderblades. He breaks with his past and his family; he adopts a new name. He is, according to the French Embassy's website, "first and foremost a man of action, brave in combat and eager for change. He disdains idleness and routine."
Well of course.
But why, then, does he leave the Legion? His resume would certainly be unconventional. "For the past five years, I have consistently met my professional objective of respecting the vanquished enemy and never abandoning my wounded nor my dead. I have met and exceeded my goals of never under any circumstances surrendering my arms."
Perhaps, after this, a man is no longer really fit for life in a cubicle.
They join to forget a woman--do they leave because they've found another one? They join for a life of action--so what happens at the Institute for Retired Legionnaires, in Puyloubier, 12 miles from Marseilles, where they fashion Foreign Legion bedside lamps and sell Foreign Legion keychains?
Some retired Legionnaires take their mercenary skills to the free market. How does a former legionnaire decide where to take his professional skills, and why? What does he look for in a new army-for-hire?
Some of them become Scuba instructors. What is it like to live the quiet life after years of dropping by parachute into the world's nastiest combat zones? What happens when the adventure is over?
After a career as a mercenary, what do you do for a second act?
Just some of the questions that occur to me, sometimes.
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Sep '10
Re: The Institute for Retired Legionnaires
Sounds like you've got a novel brewing, Claire.
Sep '10
Re: The Institute for Retired Legionnaires
I've had so much caffeine today, I could rip the shingles off my roof with my eyelids.
Apr '11
Re: The Institute for Retired Legionnaires
Sounds like maybe they could use someone like you in the French Foreign Legion.
Jul '10
Re: The Institute for Retired Legionnaires
When I was in the Marines, there was a combat engineer attached to our unit who had done time in La Legion. He was a native of Ireland, and reported that the Legion was all right, but he got tired of it and didn't see much future in it. So he immigrated to America and signed up in the Marine Corps.
I'm sure the Legion retirement home is much like the retirement homes of any military force, full of old soldiers with their stories and their remembered customs. They probably play a mean game of bocci.
Dec '10
Re: The Institute for Retired Legionnaires
You become a florist, of course.
Dec '10
Re: The Institute for Retired Legionnaires
I'd imagine a lot of them retire because their bodies betray them.
A life like that is harder on the chassis than most any other.
A 50 year old lifetime soldier probably looks like he's 40 but his joints and bones feel like he's 65 or 70.
There ain't no maintenance program in the world that can maintain the hardware in the face of such abuse.
So, I suspect that many Legionaries retire simply because they're worn out.
Being worn out greatly limits what you can do "after".
May '11
Re: The Institute for Retired Legionnaires
I once interviewed a man for a draftsman position. During the interview, we covered his qualifications which to be honest were a little thin. He had served as a Marine in Viet Nam and had just graduated from drafting in tech school on the GI Bill.
I asked him what other qualifications he had that would cause me to want to hire him.
His reply, "I'm qualified as expert marksman in handguns, long guns, mortars, hand grenades and have experience in explosives."
After a moment's thought I said, "You know, the company might need those skills someday. You're hired." He turned out to be a great draftsman and became a good friend. I also found that he had been one heck of a warrior.
Edited on Nov 4, 2011 at 10:32amDec '10
Re: The Institute for Retired Legionnaires
Pilli: His reply, "I'm qualified as expert marksman in handguns, long guns, mortars, hand grenades and have experience in explosives."
After a moment's thought I said, "You know, the company might need those skills someday. You're hired."
Heh.
Though I have never been a soldier, my little sister has often joked about me starting a murder for hire business if I have to fold up the machine shop.
Everyone has need of a marksman from time to time. If he can also be relied upon to blow things up when needed, so much the better.
Jul '11
Re: The Institute for Retired Legionnaires
A man is coming to see me with a cold today because he is leaving in a few days to go be a guard on a ship through Somali waters. He has a Barrett 50, a 308, and 12 gauge from which he and a few others guard this large expensive vessel. Soldiers of fortune are interesting people and I highly encourage anyone to converse with one if they are willing to talk. I anticipate many of our military will continue to find work in odd areas during these tough times. 12 K for a month at sea is nothing to sneeze at.
Mar '11
Re: The Institute for Retired Legionnaires
"Perhaps, after this, a man is no longer really fit for life in a cubicle."
Quite so. I suspect this is precisely what Rousseau meant when he coined a certain term.
But, now, I've revealed all too much.
Dec '10
Re: The Institute for Retired Legionnaires
This is a question that's well-explored in popular culture. Shane is a case in point, and in my opinion the best movie ever made: the gunslinger seeks to retire to the life of a hired farmhand, but realizes that because evil men will always hire gunslingers to forward their aims. the world will always demand that those who can handle a gun step forward to defend the weak. High Noon takes a slightly different view: those men who understand when and how the use of force is mandatory will always have to step forward to shepherd the sheep who believe that wolves can be appeased. Even Under Siege addresses this question: CPO Ryback keeps protesting, "I'm just the cook," but he knows that he has a duty to respond when his past skills as a SEAL are required.
In the real world, few situations demand that a retired soldier employ his expertise and experience in actual, you know, killing. For those who miss the thrill of combat, there are many non-lethal ways to get an adrenaline rush. And some people don't crave that adrenaline rush after retirement.
Jul '11
Re: The Institute for Retired Legionnaires
Stuart, I still get haunted by the scene from the Hurt Locker where the protagonist is back home and in the cereal aisle.
I've met thousands of former soldiers and they all handle it differently and some cases of substance abuse are just sad as hell yet plenty of triumph from just enduring as well.
Shane is in my top 10 of all time and I think I need to show it to my 9 year old now....as I did to the 22 and 16 yr old boys.
May '11
Re: The Institute for Retired Legionnaires
Wylee Coyote: When I was in the Marines, there was a combat engineer attached to our unit who had done time in La Legion. He was a native of Ireland, and reported that the Legion was all right, but he got tired of it and didn't see much future in it. So he immigrated to America and signed up in the Marine Corps.
I'm sure the Legion retirement home is much like the retirement homes of any military force, full of old soldiers with their stories and their remembered customs. They probably play a mean game of bocci. · Nov 4 at 10:08am
That would be "boule" or "petanque". Bocce is for Italians.
Jun '10
Re: The Institute for Retired Legionnaires
CoolHand: I'd imagine a lot of them retire because their bodies betray them.
A life like that is harder on the chassis than most any other.
A 50 year old lifetime soldier probably looks like he's 40 but his joints and bones feel like he's 65 or 70.
There ain't no maintenance program in the world that can maintain the hardware in the face of such abuse.
So, I suspect that many Legionaries retire simply because they're worn out.
Being worn out greatly limits what you can do "after". · Nov 4 at 10:15am
One reason the retirement program for military people is so important is because you wear out so fast. Even if you are lucky enough to make it 20 years. I feel so sorry for those who can no longer pass the physical to stay in the military, but have put in 15, 16, 17 years and then have to get out with nothing but a broken body and few prospects.
Sep '10
Re: The Institute for Retired Legionnaires
I've seen/heard/read an interview with someone who "left" the legion. To the extent you can trust these sort of stories, he described a very hard, very spartan life. I'm not saying Special Forces is a cakewalk, but the Legion's philosophy was completely different with regard to equipment and infrastructure. The interview that I watched was haunting because the fellow claimed that after roughly 5-7 years he began to realize there had to be more to life than dying in some god forsaken country in a war no one cared about, for a cause ephemeral at best, and a name which would not leave a trace.
Sep '10
Re: The Institute for Retired Legionnaires
Charlotte
Sounds like maybe they could use someone like you in the French Foreign Legion. · Nov 4 at 10:05am
Perhaps if they were knocking over a fair trade coffee plantation to stop a Bond villain.
Oct '10
Re: The Institute for Retired Legionnaires
Perhaps numerous righteous nights of sleep without a weapon under the pillow. Then knowing that life is strife on toast and there are other choices for breakfast.
These folk were the no questions asked problem solvers. No PR, no parades. Just an unspoken well earned respect.
May '10
Re: The Institute for Retired Legionnaires
I'm actually flirting with the idea of enlisting with them after my stint in Alaska is over, specifically with the 2nd Parachutists in Corsica. Who knows.
Jul '10
Re: The Institute for Retired Legionnaires
Ah, a good point. Though the Legion recruits people of every nationality to fight for France. There's probably an Italian or two in there somewhere. :)
Mar '11
Re: The Institute for Retired Legionnaires
Mole-eye
Wylee Coyote:
I'm sure the Legion retirement home is much like the retirement homes of any military force, full of old soldiers with their stories and their remembered customs. They probably play a mean game of bocci. · Nov 4 at 10:08am
That would be "boule" or "petanque". Bocce is for Italians. · Nov 4 at 2:04pm
No. French soldiers serve in the regular french army. You forget the LEF is the Foreign Legion. I suspect a large proportion of the Legion nowadays consists of soldiers RIFed from the armies of former Warsaw Pact states. The contined existence of the LEF is probably owed to the ambiguous french attitude toward the military. During the Franco/Prussian War at least one french city flatly refused shelter to wounded french soldiers on the grounds that if they did so the Prussians might punish them for taking sides. French families do not grieve over LEF casualties.